BARROW, Alaska, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- American Indians in Alaska and language-software company Rosetta Stone have partnered in a project to teach the Inupiaq language.
Edna MacLean, who was born in Barrow and taught Inupiaq at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, spent two years working on Inupiaq software, the Anchorage Daily News reported. This included translating words such as "computer" into Inupiaq.
"A lot of us speakers are getting older, but we sure would like our children and grandchildren to have access to something like this," she said.
Rosetta Stone Inc., based in Arlington, Va., and North Slope Borough are partners in the project. The software is expected to be available this spring.
Michael Krauss of Fairbanks said about 1,500 people remain who are fluent in Inupiaq. The Rosetta Stone project will preserve their voices and language skills.
Inupiaq is actually in much better shape than most Alaskan languages. Krauss said only one other, Yupik, has more than 1,000 surviving speakers.
